Some of the features in this update -- PlayBook 2.0 -- were demoed in near-release form at the DevCon Europe show, RIM's take on a worldwide developer convention. RIM finally appears to be getting its innovative juices flowing, based on the early preview of the pending OS.

The neatest by far is "BlackBerry Bridge". With this app, you can use your Bluetooth-paired BlackBerry smartphone to control your PlayBook. Swipes translate onto the big screen. And you can type on the keyboard, turning your smartphone into an instant Bluetooth keyboard.

You can now use your BlackBerry as a PlayBook keyboard -- that's pretty cool.
[Image Source: PocketLint]

It would be pretty cool if you could do that on your Apple, Inc. (AAPL) iPhone and iPad, which lead the world [1][2] in single model device sales -- but oh, yea, the iPhone doesn't have a physical keyboard.

RIM also has a spiffed up calendar app, which allows you to pull up contact details from social networks and send invites via Facebook and its ilk. A cute visual touch is that the app bolds your busiest days -- so if you want to show off, just get really busy and impress your coworkers with your "boldness".

RIM has spiffed up the calendar app in PlayBook 2.0. [Image Source: PocketLint]

PlayBook 2.0 is expected to land sometime late this month as a free upgrade for current owners of the tablet.

This is pretty sweet for those that hook up their playbooks to a big screen (playbook has a standard micro-HDMI out).

Because the tablet plays 1080p videos just fine (pretty much the only thing that'll do it out there outside of Tegra 3 based tablets), this is a fantastic solution for those looking to output videos to their big screen. Or for those that actually use the playbook to take videos (excellent 1080p quality provided there's enough light).

Yeah I do. RIM should have concentrated on making the damn thing do basic tasks well first instead of focussing on crappy legacy niche applications like FLASH! (ahhhhhh.....) for the sole reason that they can put it into an advert to make the market leader look bad.

Instead of focussing on making themselves look good (Samsung take note).

I've never actually seen anybody use any tablet to take photos of videos, save for using them for Skype, which seems a decent application. I think I'm safe in saying the majority will own a decent phone and will use that instead.

Oh and I'm not naming my tablet but, yeah, it beams a 12Tb media library to any TV in the house. OK it was at an extra cost but that cost was minimal with the enjoyment it has given us.

I don't give a shit about most TV's. Most TV's allow you to plug things into them negating the need for inbuilt wireless crud with clunky menus and shit future proofing. Like PlayBooks that require you to dedicate something that should be sat on your lap to something that is tethered to the box on the other side of the room.

Doesn't bother me whether you believe I'm talking crap or whether you believe RIM have really come up with something that people actually want. I'm not the one who's going be left with an obsolete paperweight as they are too pig-headed to stand up and demand more of the company that promised so much and delivered so little. Tell me all this stuff again when RIM has finally haemorrhaged all their operating capital.

Still, that phone that can type to your tethered portable media centre eh? Woah, shit get that patented right away, everybody's gonna want to get in on that tethered-but-wireless action!